Essay Database

Dead animals, elephant dung, unmade beds and rice all seem like everyday objects but should we be calling them art? When we were growing up we were taught that art was a beautiful painting - like Van Gogh's Sunflowers, or a perfect sculpture of a human - like Michelangelo's David, but we were never really taught that conceptual and contemporary art were 'proper' forms of art, even though it was established in the sixties. It …

…they also challenge you to find the true meaning of what it stands for. The shock factor aswell hypnotizes us and keeps our attention locked on the beauty of the art. One thing that fascinates me though is that if artist Chris Ofili paints with elephant dung he is seen as a Turner Prize winning genius, but if I tried to paint with elephant dung would I be seen as an artistic genius? Probably not.